After two weekends of fights at Harrisburg Mall, police say arrests are being made and they know what’s causing the problem.

One family hopes that’s true, but they won’t be going back to the mall any time soon.

A woman, who asked to remain anonymous due to ongoing threats to her family, said Monday her pre-teen daughter’s leg was broken during a fight at the mall.

She said several members of her family were at the Harrisburg Mall on Paxton Street, Swatara Township, on Saturday, including two adults, several teen cousins and a 2-year-old.

The mother said her family members went to the mall to go shopping, and was still there when stores began to close at 9 p.m. The mall closes at that time, although the theater continues to show movies.

It was shortly after one movie let out, that the mother’s family members became the target of what she terms some “drama” that led to the attack on her family.

“It was very upsetting, to know that that happened,” the mother said. She had dropped off several family members and wasn’t there, but has seen videos and photos of what happened. She returned to the mall and took her daughter to the hospital after the fight, she said.

Swatara Township Director of Public Safety Darrell Reider offered some background Monday to what he believes led to the fights.

Several years ago, police were having problems on weekends with some fights at the mall after the movies would let out, he said.

Together with movie theater management, a rule was put into place that kids would not be allowed to go into the theater unchaperoned by an adult if the movie was ending past curfew.

According to Reider, once the rule was in place they stopped having problems.

“The fights ceased,” Reider said, “because the children that were there, going to the movies, had parental supervision. We didn’t have problems of mass groups of people out past curfew.”

Then, two weekends ago, new management took over at the theater, Reider said. At the same time, one of the biggest movies of all time, “Avengers: Endgame” came out.

Reider said the length of the movie took everyone by surprise, and they didn’t realize that for many of the evening showings, minors who were let in unchaperoned before the 11 p.m. curfew would be getting out past curfew.

But police knew what to expect this weekend, and tried to prepare, he said. They didn’t have any major problems, until one girl got jumped by a group of other juveniles.

Reider couldn’t discuss the specifics of the case because it involves minors. He did say that a fight that started in the mall spilled out into the Sheetz on Paxton Street.

Police responding to the Sheetz said 15 to 20 juveniles were at the gas station. Police could not say for sure how many juveniles were involved in the mall portion of the fight, but the mother of the family members who were there said she was told up to 35 participated.

Reider also knew an injury was reported from the mall fight. He said one arrest was made in the mall fight, and two juveniles were cited for disorderly conduct in connection with what happened at Sheetz.

“We have made efforts with mall management to make things better, as far as curfew issues,” Reider said. “Kids are not going to be allowed in the movies unchaperoned if the movie lets out past curfew.”

The mother said her daughter is in a splint and will be going to the doctor this week to figure out what they need to do next for her leg.

“They’re terrified now,” the mother said of her family members who were there. “They won’t be going to the mall anymore. We’ll just do online shopping. It could have happened anywhere.”

She said it was a learning experience for her family and that they’re going to be more cautious and mindful of where they go. She also learned a lot, she said, about the teens that attacked her family.

“The kids, they’re so young that the ones that were involved, are posting the stuff on social media,” the mother said. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself caught up in.”

She also said she hopes that the measures taken by police and mall management work in the future.

“We think it’s going to get better," Reider said. He also said that the investigation into the fight is ongoing and that the case has been assigned to the Criminal Investigations unit.

Anyone with information can contact Swatara Township Police at 717-564-2550 or through its Crimewatch website.